Of course, that will be 2012, not in 2008.

To put this in some perspective, it costs $350,000 to run a week of television in every media market in the state of Indiana. Jill Long Thompson, with her $246,000 cash on hand, doesn’t have enough money to be on the air for one five-day workweek, let alone the three full weeks that are left.

Linda Pence, the Democrat candidate for attorney general, has two and a half times as much money on hand ($640,000) than Jill Long Thompson.

Becky Skillman, the Lieutenant Governor, has more than $340,000 cash on hand. If money matters in politics (and as a practical consideration in big races it does), then it would seem that Becky Skillman is more likely to replace Mitch Daniels as governor of Indiana than Jill Long Thompson.

And that transition will be in four years, not this coming January.